Stats say a total ban on cellphone use by drivers isn’t justified
Last week, when pooh-poohing the proposed ban on all use of cellphones by motorists, I noted that the head of the National Transportation Safety Board seemed to be playing fast and loose with the statistics about distracted driving. Apparently, columnist Mona Charen had the same thought, and she followed up on it in a piece for the Washington Examiner.
The relevant portion:
NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman … stated flatly that 3,000 people lost their lives last year due to texting in the driver’s seat.
Is that true? No. In a detailed report on distracted driving issued earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that only 995 deaths resulted from distraction by cell phones in 2010. The 3,000-person figure refers to all distracted driving.
The Chicken Littles in D.C. notwithstanding, the roads are getting safer, not more dangerous. The number of car accident fatalities has been dropping steadily for decades. In 1990, 44,599 people lost their lives in crashes.
In 2010, 32,885 were killed — a decrease that is even more significant considering the rise in the total number of licensed drivers and cars on the road. According to the NHTSA, there were 1.7 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles driven in 1994, but only 1.14 in 2009, the lowest level in 60 years.
The stats on distracted driving do not break down further to tell us which ones involved hands-free devices, as opposed to a driver holding a phone and talking or texting on it. Before any blanket ban proposal can be taken seriously, such a breakdown should be made available.
Here are some other data points: In 1990, there were 302 crashes and 151 injured persons per million miles traveled. By 2009, those rates had fallen to 186 and 75, respectively.
That’s a 38 percent decline in the rate of crashes, and a 50 percent decline in the rate of injuries — in addition to the 33 percent decline in the rate of fatalities. In fact, there were more fatalities in 1960 than in 2009, even though the number of vehicle-miles traveled quadrupled during the past half-century.
So, it’s not as if the crash rate is holding steady but, due to improved vehicle safety, more people are surviving wrecks. Just as with the number of fatalities, the absolute numbers of crashes and injuries have fallen during the past two decades.
If lawmakers want traffic officers to be even more vigilant about looking for motorists driving recklessly, and if they want to enact stiffer fines for reckless driving for any reason — whether distracted, by a phone or something else, or not — fine. But a blanket ban on cellphone use by drivers simply is not justified by the evidence.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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88 comments Add your comment
Cosby
December 20th, 2011
9:10 am
Lets just ban cars…but wait..did I not see advertisements that cars today can drive and park themselves…technology will save us all and just think..punch in your destination and leave the driving to the machine!!
JDW
December 20th, 2011
9:10 am
@Kyle…so let me get this right. You are willing to trade at least 995 lives a year plus injuries plus property damages to protect the right of selfish callous people to hold meaningless conversations while driving.
BTW, you kind of glossed over the fact that the 995 is the confirmed number due to self reporting. As the report states clearly…”However, the number of fatalities caused by cell phone use could be much higher. For those who were injured, 24,000 involved reports of cell phone use as a distraction.”
But then again I am sure that everyone who has an accident while chatting self reports.
DW
December 20th, 2011
9:11 am
@LBB
You do realize you are COMPLETE delusional right? That doesnt even begin to make sense dude.
@GT
GET THE “F” OVER YOURSELF.
Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
December 20th, 2011
9:14 am
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 20th, 2011
8:41 am
Hey, it was self-inflicted “misery”, a low-speed, high-dollar fender bender. And it involved a couple of 1%-ers, so you and the rest of the greedy, hate-filled left should be applauding!
Not only are you a vindictive wackjob Republican, but you feel it necessary to come on the blog to brag about your schadenfreude…
Aquagirl
December 20th, 2011
9:17 am
the greedy, hate-filled left should be applauding!
As a greedy, hate filled leftist, bravo, LBB. And encore, encore!
Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
December 20th, 2011
9:20 am
Aquagirl
December 20th, 2011
9:17 am
As a greedy, hate filled leftist, bravo, LBB. And encore, encore!
Yeah, he is the one laughing at an accident and we are “hate-filled”? What an ah0le….
Eric
December 20th, 2011
9:22 am
“. . . only 995 deaths resulted from distraction by cell phones in 2010.” Isn’t this evidence enough to ban cell phones in cars, then? I’m confused at the conclusions reached in this article.
Frustrated between Decatur & Buckhead
December 20th, 2011
9:23 am
I am the first to say keep the government out of my life as much as possible, but every morning and evening when commuting to and from work I see idiots talking on cell phones and driving badly. It seems like some people literally get in their cars and start calling friends/family. Do you really think a vast majority of these calls are anything other than meaningless chit chat?
Then there are the people who drive in the left lane talking on their phone driving below the speed limit. I really, really wish the police would do something about these jack@$$es.
I am probably completely wrong (I will be the first to admit it), but in some perfect world if all the idiots were not talking on cell phones then traffic congestion would be just a little better. I mean don’t you ever notice that when a light goes green and the first few cars in a lane move forward, but there’s just one car that takes a few extra seconds to start going and then when you pass them (as they continue to drive slow) you notice they’re on a cell phone. I jokingly think to myself that I wish I had a paint ball gun and could mark their car as a warning to others that the jack@$$ is on a cell phone.
WOW I actually feel a little better. Happy Holidays to all (that do not talk on their cell phones)!!!
Aquagirl
December 20th, 2011
9:26 am
What an ah0le….
Well, that was not a sarcastic comment, so file me under “ah0le when driving, especially if you think other drivers are just a minor inconvenience to your incredibly important self.”
I laughed like h3ll over the expensive pile-up in Japan too. As long as nobody is injured I can’t muster any sympathy for idiots who wreck. It’s a car, not a toy, not an office, and not a platform for chit-chat.
St Simons - we're on Island time
December 20th, 2011
9:29 am
well, I’ll tell you now, it’s gonna be next to impossible to get cons excited
about saving 1,000 lives, heck they just wasted 4,500 in Iraq and still
defend Little Nero with a Cowboy Hat & the Neocon Error.
Wanna get cons excited about this?
Put that cell phone in your BEDROOM
they’ll pee on themselves trying to legislate it.
Stupid is as stupid does
December 20th, 2011
9:30 am
Land of the free, home of the stupid. Let’s face it, American’s are basically handed a driver’s license like it was a birthright intead of a privilege, yet many Americans don’t have the mental ability to drive a car even when unimpaired by anything much less by cell phones, alcohol, music, etc. Nevertheless, do I want the police spending time dealing with cell phone users behind the wheel? No, there are more important crimes for them to handle. However, the act of using a cell phone behind the wheel is a conscience decision, a purposeful act, so let’s be clear, there’s nothing “accidental” about a distracted driver’s hurting or killing of another person. Let’s stop calling the destruction these people cause, “accidents”, and at least have laws on the books that penalize drivers properly for the results of their deliberate acts.
Lil' Barry Blowhard (Revised Upward)
December 20th, 2011
9:36 am
Aquagirl
December 20th, 2011
9:26 am
Well, that was not a sarcastic comment, so file me under “ah0le when driving, especially if you think other drivers are just a minor inconvenience to your incredibly important self.”
Aqua, go back and re-read the comment. I wasn’t referring to you (you are not a “he” are you?)
Aquagirl
December 20th, 2011
9:46 am
I wasn’t referring to you (you are not a “he” are you?)
Yes, but on this occasion I stand proudly with LBB, if I caused a minor wreck by not enabling a self-centered inattentive driver I would say the exact same thing he did. So I’m certainly not one of the “we” to which you referred.
Oh, and no, I’m not a “he,” no posting in drag here.
Stupid is as stupid does
December 20th, 2011
9:48 am
Studies have shown that the impaired brain function of distracted drivers is akin in many ways to that experienced by drunk drivers. I don’t condone drunken driving at all, but there is an interesting difference between the two: drunk drivers are mentally impaired (with alcohol) when they make the decision to drive; distracted drivers, make an unimpaired decision to become mentally impaired while driving. If a both a drunken driver and a distracted driver each cause a similar “accident”, should the consequences differ?
commoncents
December 20th, 2011
9:54 am
stupid @ 9:48
Nope. Sounds like the same crime to me. One is just much harder to catch/enforce. Unlike the phone, you can’t hang up or turn off being drunk
saywhat?
December 20th, 2011
10:21 am
St.Simons @ 9:29
LMAO.
gobucks
December 20th, 2011
10:24 am
If you were true authentic libertarians you would pooh pooh the nanny state by legalizing drinking and driving, removing seat belt laws, stop requiring insurance and drivers licenses.
Lets not get all bent out of shape when the NTSB says that cellphone use while driving is dangerous. If you aren’t convinced by the stats, just drive anywhere and you will see cars driven by someone using a cell phone behaving exactly like drunk drivers.
The NTSB is just stating the obvious. No laws have been created. No ones precious rights have been violated. Get over yourself and your self righteous pseudo libertarian blathering.
Todd ... this is Todd
December 20th, 2011
10:25 am
I’ve already given … my cell phone … to Sally.
Steve
December 20th, 2011
10:31 am
I don’t agree with you here Kyle. Drivers cannot keep their full attention on the road when they are on the phone.
You’re not walking down a street. You’re operating a machine that typically weighs more than 2500lbs and is moving at a speed that doesn’t stop on a dime. I would be in favor of very strict punishments for people who cause an accident while on a cell phone.
wallbanger
December 20th, 2011
10:33 am
One reason I hope they are banned, is because I have friends who get on their cellphones while on the highway and call me just to get past their boredom. They keep me on the phone for 45 minutes because they have nothing better to do. I would love it if they would not call.
Jack
December 20th, 2011
10:33 am
Common sense tells you that you shouldn’t talk on a phone while driving.
UGA 1999
December 20th, 2011
10:45 am
I think people would still use their phone, either via bluetooth or handset.
@@
December 20th, 2011
11:15 am
I’ll worry about cellphones when judges stop letting repeat DUI/DWI offenders skate.
There’s a reason why classes in defensive driving are taught….everyone already knows how to drive offensively. They’ll continue to do so in spite of laws.
The neurosis in which the search for safety takes its clearest form is in the compulsive-obsessive neurosis. Compulsive-obsessive to frantically order and stabilize the world so that no unmanageable, unexpected or unfamiliar dangers will ever appear.”–Abraham Maslow
A disease with a “dem” prognosis.
schnirt
getalife
December 20th, 2011
11:21 am
Out of my cold dead hands.
St Simons - we're on Island time
December 20th, 2011
11:21 am
..or make that cell phone call a private matter
between a woman & her doctor
legislate it? hell, (some) cons will make bombs & shoot people over that
UGA 1999
December 20th, 2011
11:26 am
St. Simons…..you are right! haha
Thulsa Doom
December 20th, 2011
11:51 am
It all has to do with what’s between the ears.
I watched an interesting Discovery channel special on the German autobahn and why its so much safer than U.S. highways despite no speed limit and drivers regularly going 150mph. No. 1 is the road is engineered better.
But the other reasons its safer are much more interesting.When German drivers drive they drive. They take it seriously and do not use cell phones, do not fumble with CDs, they do not eat, drink, etc. They actually take it far more seriously and keep their eyes on the road. The other reason was lane discipline. The slower cars stay to the right and if you are going too slow in the fast lanes you will get ticketed because you are driving dangerously- reason being an obviously much faster car could come outta nowhere and smash into you from behind.
Anyway, it was just interesting to note how little attention we pay to driving vis a vis people from other countries like Germany which actually take it seriously. Also I try not to use my cell phone in city traffic. Now if I’m on open stretch of highway going to Florida or Alabama then I absolutely use my phone as long as traffic isn’t heavy.
@@
December 20th, 2011
12:08 pm
wallbanger:
They keep me on the phone for 45 minutes because they have nothing better to do. I would love it if they would not call.
Tell them you’re hanging up so they can drive. I do it all the time.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
December 20th, 2011
12:47 pm
Stupid is as stupid does: Land of the free, home of the stupid.
———————-
Hmm, what else does the above genius have to say…
Let’s face it, American’s are basically handed…
Improper use of apostrophe.
the act of using a cell phone behind the wheel is a conscience decision
Doesn’t know that the word he/she was thinking of is “conscious”.
Let’s stop calling the destruction these people cause, “accidents”, and at least…
Excessive use of commas.
If you’re going to call others stupid, you might want to sound less like those to whom you pretend to be superior.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
December 20th, 2011
12:49 pm
Aquagirl: Yes, but on this occasion I stand proudly with LBB
————————
Good to know there are a few on the left who have managed to develop a sense of humor!
Hillbilly D
December 20th, 2011
1:25 pm
Go out for a 10 mile drive (or even shorter if you live in a suburban or urban area) and it’s highly likely you will nearly get hit, at least once, by some fool yakking on a cell phone.
Being in my mid 50’s, I lived most of my life without having access to a phone every waking minute of my life. I got along just fine and so did everybody else.
GT
December 20th, 2011
1:29 pm
The economy is coming back. The Republicans are like the oil business. They are doing great as long as something doesn’t change like an independent mind coming up with a fuel alternative. The more bad news on this front the better for the oil people, because the day someone comes up with an alternative Texas is a ghost town, the rest of the country is no longer under extortion and held hostage by the dumbest guys in the room. If the economy turns around all this multiple marriages, dirty money, and weak character and minds start to look like what it is. No one is pushing for a depression more than your local Republican Party.
The Snark
December 20th, 2011
1:33 pm
Thanks for taking on the Big Issues.
Stupid is as stupid does
December 20th, 2011
2:20 pm
Barry,
It seems that when you have nothing constructive left to say on a subject, you have to get personal. This has been your modus operandi. Thanks for showing us what a real pompous individual is like. By the way, I was dictating that first post into my cell phone while driving which is the reason for the spelling and syntax errors.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 20th, 2011
5:22 pm
Incorrect. It is merely my longstanding policy to mock the grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors of people who call others stupid.
Oh, and you need a better phone.
Stupid is as stupid does
December 20th, 2011
6:05 pm
Thanks for the confirmation.
Frustrated between Decatur & Buckhead
December 21st, 2011
8:45 am
LBB…you truly are an annoying little gnat. Picking on people’s grammar on a comment page…really? Please get over yourself. I have a feeling your car would have a few paintball spots….
Frustrated between Decatur & Buckhead
December 21st, 2011
8:47 am
@GT 1:29 PM – Where does this even come from? Are you one of the angry liberals that just spouts off stupid stuff all over the place?